The journey of one (relatively) young, single girl’s romance with Harlequin Presents!
The newest member of the Presents team lifts the lid on the top trade secrets of working in the home of Romance!
by Harlequin Presents Editorial Assistant Pippa Roscoe
You could say that it started at the age of 7 – there I was, replete with elbow length blond hair in high top bunches, looking down at the purple cover of Jilly Cooper’s Prudence.
My mum takes full, and very proud, responsibility for handing this to me, but then she didn’t have to deal with my primary school teacher when I took it in to reading day! A detour through my teens saw me consuming as many psychological crime thrillers as I could get my hands on! But the one thread that pulled me through those pages was most definitely the sizzling hot passion between the hero and heroine.
So I actually popped my Presents cherry rather late in life. After coffee one morning, my close friend dragged me to the library pulled 5 Harlequin novels from the shelf and thrust them into my hands – all done in a reverent silence that had nothing to do with the library. I was being indoctrinated into the home of Romance.
Remember that feeling? Eyes wide, smile spreading, that bubbling excitement creeping through your bones as you know, you just know, the sweet anticipation of being whisked away on an emotional rollercoaster into your wildest fantasies of glamour, passion and alpha males!! That you’re about to embark on that most guilty pleasure – the Presents novel!
Utterly taken with the first threws of passion, I excitedly sent off my CV hoping that I would find my home working with the authors I had read and the team of people who work to produce these wonderful books. In the meantime, I plunged back into the joy of reading every Presents I could get my hands on.
Little under a year later I received a phone call from Harlequin HQ asking me if I was still interested in interviewing as an Editorial Assistant for the Presents team.
Was I? Seriously? If I could have jumped through the phone I would have.
Two weeks later and I was standing in a courtyard in Norfolk with my older sister, my beautiful niece and my very naughty nephew in the drizzling rain, the phone clenched to my ear and my stomach doing somersaults – jumping up and down on the spot, (but trying very hard to hide it!) saying yes! I would be very happy to accept the position of Editorial Assistant for Presents.
So slightly nervous and incredibly excited I started my first week in the Harlequin office – in the dark! The lights were down on my first morning, so I was introduced to the stationary cupboard with the help of a bicycle light, (very resourceful the girls at HHQ!). Later, fully illuminated I was able to see the open plan world of the UK office.
The first week saw me attending a monthly Vision meeting where we discuss the covers and brief the art work for the next month. I was so excited I don’t think I managed to say a word other than nodding manically and squeaking. All the beautiful covers laid out with so many different images to choose from – it was as if I had walked in to the best sweet shop in the world!
I was then asked to put together the concept page that goes into Presents Extra. This is where we bring together two sets of two brilliant titles that are linked by a theme. I love this part of the job, it’s so wonderful to grab the best bits of a book and shout about it! I sometimes have to be pulled back a little when I get carried away, but Carly (our Assistant Editor) always kindly brings me back in line (usually by laughing loudly and sighing – telling me not to watch her while she reads my idea!).
There is so much more I want to tell you all about, but I’d like to leave you with the most important and reverent part of my first week; the library.
This, ladies, is not just any library – it is the Harlequin library.
Hidden deep, locked away, up the stairs and behind a non-descript grey office door, is a room with rows upon rows of copies of all the published titles for each series – I was in heaven! Just imagine it! Beneath your fingertips are the spines of all the wonderful worlds created by the Harlequin authors. It took a larger amount of strength than you can imagine not to grab the key to the library, make a copy, come back at the weekend with a sleeping bag, and supplies, and lock myself in!
I’m so pleased to be able to give you a little insight to the world of Presents, I hope I have done us justice! For the next blog, I’ll be sneaking you in to take a peek at the newest Presents continuity, and lifting the lid on the Harlequin Presents Christmas, where there are Christmas jumpers, elves and so much more!!
Ah, Pippa – your passion and love for the genre come over as strongly as the charisma of the Presents hero!
A lovely story – with a trademark happy ending and I look forward to the next bubbly instalment!
I don’t write for the Presents line, but after reading that, I may have to try and switch!! Of course Emily would probably kill me. LOL. Great post. I love your excitement.
OMG, Pippa – I didn’t realise you were from my part of the world! *waves from Norwich*
Glad you’re enjoying yourself so much at Romance HQ.
(And if you were responsible for the cover on my Venice book, then please can I have you in charge of all my covers?)
Pippa, thanks for a great insight into HHQ and your story of how you got such a brilliant job. I’m SO jealous that you’ve been in The Library and I can’t even begin to guess how many wonderful romance books are there!
Hi Pippa,
I loved your “call” story! It’s lovely to have such passionate editors on the team.
I’ve seen the library and it is a romance reader’s dream!
Every girls dream job Pippa! Cant wait for your next instalment. You are going to be the most brilliant editor.
Great post Pippa! So much fun to hear the inside scoop and truly a dream job. I would never leave the library! And is that the fabulous Sharon Kendrick’s book you are holding?! Cannot wait to hear about the next continuity! If there’s anything I love it’s a continuity.. just trying to get through my withdrawal from Sandra’s Orsini series
Pippa, I love your story! You make me wish I worked in the editorial office!
You’re such a joy to work with, and I’m so thankful you’re part of the team!
Wow! A library with all the Harlequin books in it. Heaven on earth. Do people read any of the books or are they off limits. Makes my boxes full of books in my basement sound puny. I inherited a lot of early Presents from my mother. I saved a lot of books on my own over 50 years as well.
Sharon thank you so much your comment and your support! I couldn’t be this passionate without such amazing writers like you!
Lynette, what a wonderful compliment! Come over to the Presents side… you know you want to! (I’m sure Emily and I could share you?)
Hi Kate, it’s true, I’m absolutely loving it at Romance HQ and although I would love to take credit for the covers, we have an amazing design team who work tirelessly to put together so many wonderful cover options. But we’ll see what we can do!
Lovely to hear from you Rachael! So glad you’re enjoying hearing about us at Romance HQ.
And thank you too Melanie, as I said to Sharon, I can only borrow from the passion from your stories! Also, all this talk of the library has my fingers twitching to get back there!
Hi Lesa, thank you so much for your support, it’s definitely this girl’s dream job!
Thank you so much Maisey, that’s such a lovely thing to say. You can come and play with us any time you want!
Hi Kaelee, I try not to make more than one trip every two weeks as my bag can only fit a certain amount of ‘borrowed’ books in it! But from the sounds of it, you have your own personal Harlequin Library!
That’s a great story Pippa (perhaps you should be a writer!!) and we’re all so thrilled you said yes when you were in that courtyard in Norfolk )
Thank you Sarah, it’s so wonderful to be part of such a fantastic team! We’re all off to the Christmas Party in a few minutes; glad rags – check, makeup – check, now I just need to raid the editorial chocolate stores to ensure that a few lunchtime glasses of wine don’t go into an empty stomach!